French chef kills man, cooks body parts using 'method learnt in Nepal' to disguise smell

Hindustan Times

20-05-2025

In a shocking incident, a retired French butcher and restaurant owner admitted to killing a reclusive neighbour during a failed break-in and later attempting to hide the body by dismembering and cooking parts of it with vegetables, reported the New York Post.
Philippe Schneider, 69, and his partner, 45-year-old Nathalie Caboubassy, are accused of murdering 60-year-old Georges Meichler, whose disappearance from the quiet forest village of Brasc in 2023 triggered a police investigation.
Schneider allegedly told authorities that he and Caboubassy had planned a burglary at Meichler's remote home. After tying and gagging him, they returned to find him dead, apparently suffocated. In an effort to hide the crime, Schneider confessed to cutting up Meichler's body, burning some parts, and scattering the remains across the property and inside the victim's van.
'What I'm going to tell you is horrific,' Schneider warned investigators before revealing the details of the attempted cover-up, according to The Telegraph.
In court, Schneider said he boiled parts of Meichler's remains in a pot of vegetables. He claimed this was based on a ritual he had learnt in Nepal and was also meant to mask the smell of decomposition.
A third man, a 25-year-old gravedigger, is also facing charges. He testified that Schneider told him to cook the body until it 'falls off the bone' and to tell anyone who asked that it was 'food for the dog', according to the outlet.
Meichler's disappearance came to light after his daughter filed a missing person report. She became suspicious when she received an unusual text from his phone — a message that didn't match his communication habits. 'Hi. I'm heading to Brittany with a friend. Get some fresh air and see the country. See you when I get back. Have a nice day,' the message read.
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Authorities located Schneider and Caboubassy days later in Meichler's van. Schneider initially claimed the van had been lent to them. However, forensic teams found blood and body parts in the vehicle, linking the couple to the crime.
Schneider's defence lawyer, Luc Abratkiewicz, acknowledged his client's responsibility. 'Philippe Schneider acknowledges his full responsibility and all the facts he is accused of,' he told The Telegraph. 'Philippe Schneider's version is that at the time he lived a life of alcohol, drugs, and then this completely crazy idea of going to burgle his neighbour. He gags him. It goes badly, he dies… He made a serious mistake. Afterward, he continued to sink into absurdity and horror, because the fact of having cut up this corpse is going to cost them dearly.'
Schneider faces charges of kidnapping resulting in death, desecration and concealment of a corpse. Caboubassy and the gravedigger have been charged with complicity. The verdict is expected to be delivered on May 22.
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